1. Field
The following description relates to a power supply capable of achieving a reduction in switching loss, and a gate driver included therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
An energy conversion device included in a power supply, for example, a DC-DC converter or an electric motor, performs energy conversion while switching on/off power switching elements. However, a circuit to control such an energy conversion device exhibits weak current drivability because the circuit is a logical operation circuit. On the other hand, power switching elements require high energy when they are switched on/off and, as such, cannot directly receive a control signal from the logical operation circuit, which exhibits weak drivability. To this end, such a power switching element receives a control signal from the logical operation circuit via a gate driver which is a kind of buffers.
In the case of a power switching element such as an insulated gate bipolar transistor or a power field effect transistor exhibits switching loss upon switching operation thereof because the input impedance thereof mainly includes a capacitance component.
Switching loss of such a power switching element depends on the quantity of charge to be charged or discharged for driving of the power switching element, the supply voltage of the gate driver, and the switching frequency of the power switching element.
Meanwhile, recent energy conversion devices have a tendency toward an increase in switching frequency and, as such, exhibit an increased rate of switching loss in the total loss thereof. In particular, in the case of an energy conversion device exhibiting low power consumption, the switching loss rate thereof is further increased.